


An Outing with the Gnorns

by LooNEY_DAC



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 04:03:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8875201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LooNEY_DAC/pseuds/LooNEY_DAC
Summary: Tuuri and Emil take the younger Västerströms to the Mora Library to teach them about Norse & Finnish Mythology





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KrisseDeKovats](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrisseDeKovats/gifts).



“You know I’m only doing this because you begged.” Tuuri Hotakainen did not sound happy; few people who were saddled with Emil Västerström’s three demon cousins sounded happy. The triplets, Sune, Anna and Håkan, were commonly known in Mora as “the Gnorns”, and nothing in Tuuri’s experiences with them had done anything besides reinforce the nickname in her mind.

“I’d hoped the bribery had something to do with it,” Emil replied without missing a beat. “Those sweets cost quite a bit, as you well know. Besides, I’m here with you.” He would have gestured, but the three children hanging off of him made that impossible.

They had spoken in Finnish, at which Emil had improved quite markedly since his earliest awkward efforts; Tuuri was not about to let the Gnorns know how reluctant she’d been to “guide them into the wider world of knowledge”. Like other predatory animals, they could sense weakness and fear, so Tuuri was determined to out-mean them once again.

“Why do we hafta go to the dumb museum?” Sune, who Tuuri thought of as “Mini-Emil” or “Mini-E”, whined, and the other two quickly joined in the whining chorus.

“It’s not a museum,” Emil repeated, “it’s the Mora Public Library, where some of the books Tuuri and I and the others brought back are on display, and you’re going there to learn about what the Icelanders, the Norwegians, and the Finns--like Tuuri--believe.”

“That’s right,” Tuuri confirmed with obviously forced cheerfulness. “You’ll hear all about magic, the gods and the spirits, and all the tales of the First Days of Man.” Seeing that the Gnorns looked suitably impressed, Tuuri led them on again.

The Mora Public Library had not a few branches, and all were outrageously grandiosely bedecked pompous Swedish monstrosities. The Outer Mora Branch, which still claimed pride of place as “the oldest Library in Sweden”, was consequently the apotheosis of this (lack of) style. Tuuri grimaced at the ghastly sight as the five of them approached the main entrance.

Of course, neither Emil nor his young cousins shared her distaste for the overblown gaudiness of the facade; rather, they seemed united in their admiration for it. Tuuri briefly wondered whether this was a Swedish thing, or simply a Västerström family trait.

Tuesday evening was not the usual story-time in the Children’s Section of the Library; nor were foreigners usually allowed to hold forth in that place, whatever their intellectual pedigree; but these were the Gnorns, and Tuuri was to instruct them in the Finn Belief System, so exceptions had been made. Tuuri rather suspected that the price of the exceptions had been paid in some of the volumes the crew had retrieved from Silent Denmark, but she had no proof, and none of the adult Västerströms would admit to anything one way or the other.

There was another treat the Gnorns were to enjoy that was a rarity: they were to view one of the last remaining kinematographs that had been preserved from the Old Times, and it portrayed a portion of the tales Tuuri was to pass on to them. It was in Finnish, so Tuuri would need to keep up a running translation. Fortunately, the Library had provided her with a generous supply of water.

The film abridged a large portion of the _Kalevala_ , which Tuuri knew would cause problems when she tried to give the full version of it later, but at least it held the Gnorns in rapt silence as they watched its tale play out before their eyes. The dancing lights brought figures long since dust back to glorious life, a magic that still held its audience in thrall.

Unfortunately, there was only so much time for anything, so when Tuuri saw how much of it the screening had consumed, she decided to elide the longer explication of the _Kalevala_ in favor of moving on to the tenets of the Icelandic-Norwegian faith, thus avoiding the inevitable confusion the film’s abridgments would cause the Gnorns.

Unfortunately, Tuuri had barely begun to explain who the Norse gods were and what they did when Mini-E expressed his confusion thus: “I thought you said the Old Man was the head of the gods, so what’s with this Thor guy? And these other guys, Frey and Freya and them, are all named the same--what gives with that?”

An avalanche of questions followed, mostly delivered in the whiny, nasally tone the Gnorns had perfected as a means of driving anyone who dared try to teach them anything utterly insane.

Emil was actually trying to help; Tuuri had to give him credit for that. Unfortunately, most of the answers he was giving in response to his demon cousins’ questions were wrong either in whole or in part--some so off-the-wall that Tuuri was taken aback. Still, he was deflecting some of the assault from her.

After what seemed an eternity of the Whiny Question Gauntlet, a member of the Library staff came to tell them their time was up; had this being of indeterminate gender and age not looked like one of the less ugly trolls the Crew had encountered on their mission, Tuuri could have kissed them. It only took a few mere moments to wrangle the Gnorns out from the Library and back to the Västerströms’ house.

As the Gnorns raced into the house to tell their parents all the neat stuff they’d learned, Tuuri elbowed Emil in the ribs and told him, “You still owe me for this.”


End file.
